Astoria – Portland. Start -1 day

As Portland is not actually on the Pacific coast, we were offered an option to tag an extra days riding on to the whole trip to allow us to ride in from Astoria which is on the coast. This is a distance of 126 miles through the back roads of western Oregon.

Susan Notorangelo arranged to pick up the 4 participants from the hotel at 6.30am and drive us out there. The four of us were myself, Walt Chapman a PAC Tour veteran of 5 coast to coast trips and father and son couple Dan and Brian Hofstra. We were deposited at the beach at Fort Stevens national park where after the obligatory shots of dipping the back wheel in the Pacific we commenced our ride into Portland. Initially it was quite cool due to the sea mist coming in of the Pacific, but it soon warmed up as we moved inland and eventually temps rose into the mid 90s. The route meandered through some stunning scenery of rural Oregon, a mixture of farm land and maritime forest. After a hundred miles we entered the outskirts of Portland and quickly transferred onto purpose built cycle paths along side the Columbia River which took us all the way back to the hotel.

Dipping my wheels in the Pacific

Me, Dan and Brian at the Pacific

Quiet back country roads on route to Portland

The ride back from Astoria clocked up a steady 126 miles with several sizable climbs which were a good tester for my ability to cope with the heat. I arrived back at Portland just after 7pm without feeling too drained.